Thakoon / Pre-Fall 2012

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If Thakoon Panichgul’s spring collection exploded onto the runway in a heady cloud of bold, near-clashing color and mesmerizing print, pre-fall gently whispered in palette-cleansing heathery and nude pastel tones. Not that the designer’s mid-season presentation was created with the intention of having the same impact as his previous runway show—it is by nature, a far more low-key, commercial affair—but according to Panichgul, it’s “a starting point for fall. We have such a short amount of time between the two collections that we work on them concurrently.” And as a teaser of what’s to come, this certainly looks promising.

“Something more grown-up and classically feminine,” is how Panichgul described it. But that would be classic in a very modern interpretation of the word and with luxury as the underlying subtext. Yes, there was a shirtdress, but heightened with cable-knit sleeves and pockets; a T-shirt frock, but with a cartridge-pleat waist and made from the finest calfskin posing as silk radzimir. “Lush American sportswear fabrics were my inspiration,” he said, “because I always come back to the weather when I think about fall.”

But what really set these familiar easy silhouettes apart from the wardrobe staples every woman already owns was a clever twist in construction. Exaggerated balloon sleeves on tops and jackets—and the extra buoyant puff that had been added to dresses from waist to hem—lent the clothes a fresh, sculptural quality. And what appeared to be layering—a flocculent Mongolian lamb’s wool vest over a finer grade of the same type of wool jacket—was in fact a one-piece cropped-sleeved coat. “It was about exploring a soft type of tailoring and combining fabrics to get a three-dimensional effect,” said Panichgul, who extended that textural attitude to shoes too: “Cable-knit details became this twisted braiding,” he explained, pointing to the edging on his blush-hued calfskin footwear. And with all of the gentle, soothing colors and voluminous, feminine characteristics at work in the collection, it seemed right to the designer to unveil his first pair of loafers. “I didn’t want anything dainty,” he concludes. “The shoes keep all of these other elements grounded.”